Gerardina Smaldone, Francesca Di Matteo, Roberta Castelluccio, Valeria Napolitano, Maria Rosaria Miranda, Michele Manfra, Pietro Campiglia, Vincenzo Vestuto
{"title":"Targeting the CXCR4/CXCL12 Axis in Cancer Therapy: Analysis of Recent Advances in the Development of Potential Anticancer Agents.","authors":"Gerardina Smaldone, Francesca Di Matteo, Roberta Castelluccio, Valeria Napolitano, Maria Rosaria Miranda, Michele Manfra, Pietro Campiglia, Vincenzo Vestuto","doi":"10.3390/molecules30061380","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Cancer, a leading cause of premature death, arises from genetic and epigenetic mutations that transform normal cells into tumor cells, enabling them to proliferate, evade cell death, and stimulate angiogenesis. Recent evidence indicates that chemokines are essential in tumor development, activating receptors that promote proliferation, invasion, and metastasis. The CXCR4/CXCL12 signaling pathway is gaining attention as a promising target for cancer therapy. CXCR4, a chemokine receptor, is often overexpressed in various types of cancer, including kidney, lung, brain, prostate, breast, pancreas, ovarian, and melanomas. When it binds to its endogenous ligand, CXCL12, it promotes cell survival, proliferation, and migration, crucial mechanisms for the retention of hematopoietic stem cells in the bone marrow and the movement of lymphocytes. The extensive expression of CXCR4 in cancer, coupled with the constant presence of CXCL12 in various organs, drives the activation of this axis, which in turn facilitates angiogenesis, tumor progression, and metastasis. Given the detrimental role of the CXCR4/CXCL12 axis, the search for drugs acting selectively against this protein represents an open challenge. This review aims to summarize the recent advancements in the design and development of CXCR4 antagonists as potential anticancer agents.</p>","PeriodicalId":19041,"journal":{"name":"Molecules","volume":"30 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.2000,"publicationDate":"2025-03-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11945090/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Molecules","FirstCategoryId":"92","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules30061380","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"BIOCHEMISTRY & MOLECULAR BIOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Cancer, a leading cause of premature death, arises from genetic and epigenetic mutations that transform normal cells into tumor cells, enabling them to proliferate, evade cell death, and stimulate angiogenesis. Recent evidence indicates that chemokines are essential in tumor development, activating receptors that promote proliferation, invasion, and metastasis. The CXCR4/CXCL12 signaling pathway is gaining attention as a promising target for cancer therapy. CXCR4, a chemokine receptor, is often overexpressed in various types of cancer, including kidney, lung, brain, prostate, breast, pancreas, ovarian, and melanomas. When it binds to its endogenous ligand, CXCL12, it promotes cell survival, proliferation, and migration, crucial mechanisms for the retention of hematopoietic stem cells in the bone marrow and the movement of lymphocytes. The extensive expression of CXCR4 in cancer, coupled with the constant presence of CXCL12 in various organs, drives the activation of this axis, which in turn facilitates angiogenesis, tumor progression, and metastasis. Given the detrimental role of the CXCR4/CXCL12 axis, the search for drugs acting selectively against this protein represents an open challenge. This review aims to summarize the recent advancements in the design and development of CXCR4 antagonists as potential anticancer agents.
期刊介绍:
Molecules (ISSN 1420-3049, CODEN: MOLEFW) is an open access journal of synthetic organic chemistry and natural product chemistry. All articles are peer-reviewed and published continously upon acceptance. Molecules is published by MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. Our aim is to encourage chemists to publish as much as possible their experimental detail, particularly synthetic procedures and characterization information. There is no restriction on the length of the experimental section. In addition, availability of compound samples is published and considered as important information. Authors are encouraged to register or deposit their chemical samples through the non-profit international organization Molecular Diversity Preservation International (MDPI). Molecules has been launched in 1996 to preserve and exploit molecular diversity of both, chemical information and chemical substances.